the questionnaire asks about something for which there is no answer in my file at all

A missing answer is not a system error

A question without an answer in your chain file usually means one of two things: the topic has not yet been filled in, or the question falls outside what a chain file normally covers. The latter happens more often than you might think. Questionnaires from banks, insurers and major customers often combine elements from different frameworks — a question about the ten measures of Article 21(2) of the NIS2 Directive, followed by a question about specific Annex A measures from ISO/IEC 27001, while your organisation is only prepared for the first framework. The system recognises the question, but there is no source to draw from.

First check whether it is really missing or whether it is located elsewhere in the file. A question about "locations" may for example be intended as a question about the countries where the undertaking is active, while your file has already listed that under a different heading. Customer questionnaire formulations vary widely, even though they mean the same underlying fact. If the answer is really not there, the field remains open. You then fill it in yourself at your customer's portal, or you leave it open with an explanation — that is up to you, we do not fill in anything without a source.

Why we do not make up an answer

The platform only fills in what is substantiated by a source, and confirms that per answer with a yes-or-no check to you. A question about the VSME basic module of EFRAG, for example, concerns a voluntary standard that does not automatically coincide with mandatory reporting under Directive (EU) 2022/2464 — two frameworks that easily blur together on questionnaires, but with different underlying data. Without a file document that matches the exact question, the field remains empty. That is also why a question about for example whether AI systems are deployed is only answered once a fact has been recorded for it, and not before.